Beam-type windshield or windscreen wiper blades are growing in popularity throughout the United States and the world. Beam-type wiper blades have an elongate beam “backbone” that is curved along its length. They also have a rubber wiper element attached to one side of the beam and an adapter, used for releasably mounting the wiper blade to a vehicle, attached to the beam, extending outwardly from its other side. Examples of beam-type wiper blades are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,836,925, 6,813,923, and 6,550,096.
The curved beam helps ensure more constant and even pressure is applied along the entire windshield, providing a smoother, more consistent wipe. While conventional articulating framework wiper blades typically have somewhere around six or eight pressure points, beam-type wiper blades essentially have an infinite number of pressure points, helping to ensure the wiper element is urged against the windshield with substantially continuous pressure along substantially the entire length of the blade. A curved beam is also better able to conform to the curved contour of just about any vehicle windshield, which further ensures a smoother, more consistent wiping action.
During operation, each wiper blade is attached to an arm that moves back and forth across part of a windshield of a vehicle. The wiper element rides in concert along the surface of the windshield, essentially functioning as a squeegee to urge water in its path off the windshield.
Packaging such a beam-type windshield wiper blade poses unique challenges as compared to conventional wiper blades because of its curved beam. One challenge relates to the fact that beam-type wiper blades are significantly wider than conventional wiper blades. For example, where a conventional blade typically has a maximum transverse width no greater than three inches, a beam-type blade has a greater maximum transverse width that can be as wide as four or five inches.
Another challenge relates to protecting the wiper element. Due to the curvature of the beam and the arrangement of the wiper element, the end of the wiper element can become warped or distorted over time if the blade is not properly supported. This can cause that part of the wiper element to make poor contact with the windshield, which can cause undesirable streaking during wiper operation. This warpage or distortion can also extend along part of the squeegee edge of the wiper element, making these problems even worse. If too great, it can undesirably result in such warped or distorted wiper blades being returned to the store for refund.
Accordingly, it would be desirable and advantageous to provide packaging for a beam-type wiper blade that protects the blade while minimizing the volume it occupies.